Eight people died in coastal Kerala and Tamil Nadu and nearly 90 fishermen remained missing as a depression above the Bay of Bengal turned into a cyclonic storm. Cyclone Ockhi, meteorologists say, is heading for Lakshadweep and is unlikely to make landfall in India. Currently it is hovering 130 km west-southwest of Trivandrum. Schools in seven districts across the two states have been closed. In Kanyakumari and Thoothukudi districts of Tamil Nadu, strong winds uprooted more than 500 trees, snapped power lines and damaged settlements close to the sea. Heavy showers are likely to continue for the next 24 hours.

The faction led by TTV Dhinakaran and VK Sasikala has no stake in the AIADMK and the two leaders do not have any locus standi to seek documents related to party funds, the Madras High Court was informed today.

Five days after Raghupathy Kandasamy, a 30-year-old software engineer died in Coimbatore after his motorcycle allegedly hit an illegally erected wooden arch, two activists were questioned by the Tamil Nadu police over graffiti that was painted on the road at the spot that he died.

Income Tax (IT) officials today raided 33 premises in Tamil Nadu and Madurai belonging to three business groups. It is a follow-up to its earlier searches linked to jailed AIADMK leader VK Sasikala's family and business associates, said a senior official.

The award of the AIADMK's two-leaf symbol to Chief Minister E Palaniswami's faction has triggered an automatic depletion in Team Dhinakaran. The expelled number 2 of Tamil Nadu's ruling party, who allegedly bribed Election Commission officials to get the two-leaves symbol, found three of his supporters rushing to declare allegiance to the Chief Minister. TTV Dinakaran said he would appeal in the Supreme Court.

Ragupathy Kandasamy, a 30-year-old software engineer back home in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore from the US to meet a prospective bride, died on Friday last when his motorcycle crashed into a temporary wooden hoarding set up on a road by the ruling AIADMK for its MGR centenary celebrations. Ragupathy Kandasamy hit the structure and fell from his bike, a truck ran him over

The ruling AIADMK today discussed a range of issues, including the December 21 bypoll to RK Nagar Assembly constituency in Chennai, with senior functionaries authorising the party's parliamentary board to decide the bypoll candidate.

Four students of a government school in Tamil Nadu's Vellore were found dead in a well near their village Panapakkam, 88 kilometres from Chennai, on Friday. Police suspect it to be a case of suicide pact.